October 2026 (1) - Flipbook - Page 58
A Noob Goes to Big Whiskey!
Editor’s Note:
The Big Whiskey Match is an invitation-only match for
Shiloh Customers. Interested parties should contact Lucinda at
406-932-4454 and ask to be put on the waiting list.
I have to confess that the
Big Whiskey silhouette match
was not my 昀椀rst black powder
silhouette match. I did shoot a
couple of matches three years
ago at the Upper Nisqually
Sportsman‘s Club in Enumclaw
Washington. Those matches
took place in the wintertime
and it was raining. We still shot
anyway even though we were
getting wet and I remember
coming away from that match
and thinking that I really didn’t
enjoy silhouette all that much.
The most fun part of silhouette
was watching the rams disappear, but the time limits and the
wet weather and the struggle of
not really knowing very many
people at that match kind of
made up my mind for me that it
wasn’t worth the hour and a half
drive each way to participate.
I shelved the idea of shooting
silhouette matches and went on
about my business.
When I went to my 昀椀rst
match at Big Whiskey last year,
I shot in the 22 silhouette and
in the long range big bore black
powder match, but I did not
shoot the black powder silhouette match. I wanted to leave
that spot open for a shooter
who was more committed to
black powder silhouette than I
was. I knew that I would spend
my time shooting photographs
and video anyway and so I was
happy with that. It’s very hard
to go to a match and shoot video
58
and photos and participate in
the match at the same time.
When your attention gets divided like that, you end up doing a
crappy job of everything instead
of focusing in on one thing and
doing a decent job at it.
When the invitations
came out this year, I changed
my mind. The thought occurred
to me that if I wanted to truly improve as a black powder
shooter, then I need to embrace
and experience all the di昀昀erent
forms of black powder compe-
By Jonny V
Below:
Scope Class Match Winner
Bill Huxtable (58 points)
tition. It’s not good enough to
simply shoot once style of match
or even a couple styles you
need to participate anywhere
and everywhere that you get a
chance. The Big Whiskey match
presents a unique opportunity
in that you get to shoot in two
distinctly di昀昀erent silhouette
matches and a long-range gong
match over a four-day period.
This is important since I drive to
all my matches. From my homebase just east of Tacoma, Washington, it takes me a solid 12 to
October, 2026, Issue #4
